Cardeilhac

Antoine-Vital Cardeilhac founded his silver-smith’s firm in 1804. He specialized in silver cutlery and table ware. During the 19th century the firm was handed down from father to son (Armand-Edouard followed by Ernest) and continued to produce with great success, pieces which were largely inspired by wrought iron originals with a rich and finely executed ornamentation. These models, of various forms and styles, were all judged remarkable for their chasing. Inevitably the firm of Cardeilhac was noticed for the high quality of the pieces shown to the public at national and international exhibitions and they received many awards such as a bronze medal in 1823 and a silver medal in 1827 and again in 1834 and yet again at the famous Parisian Universal Exhibition in 1867. They were finally consecrated with a gold medal at the 1878 Universal Exhibition which gave them an unprecedented renown. After more than a century of success confirmed at the great Universal Exhibitions, the famous silver-smith firm Christofle at last took over Cardeilhac in 1951.